This invention relates generally to surgical clip appliers and, in particular, single fire clip appliers with disposable jaws and methods thereof.
Various types of surgical instruments have been developed, including clip appliers, for the occlusion and ligation of vessels as well as other conduits and tissue structures. Clip appliers typically include a handle connected to a pair of clip compressing jaw members. In one configuration, the jaw members are movable with respect to each other when a user, e.g., a surgeon, operates the handle. A surgical clip is first retrieved from a clip dispenser and loaded in between the jaw members. A loaded surgical clip is placed over or around a desired section of tissue, vessel, another clip or another similar object. The clip is compressed as the jaw members move toward each other thereby applying the clip.
To save costs, single fire clip appliers are typically made re-usable and thus are re-sterilized for future use. The clip appliers, however, may not be robust enough to withstand repeated sterilization. For example, during repeated autoclave cycles the clip applier and, in particular, the jaws may be damaged. Batch processing specifically can trigger collisions with other instruments, which can bend or misalign the jaws. Misaligned or otherwise damaged jaws may introduce or cause difficulties in clip applying operations, e.g., retrieving of a clip from a clip dispenser, or lead to dropping of clips or unsuccessful clip application onto the desired section of tissue, vessel, another clip or another similar object. Such damaged clip appliers can be returned to the manufacturer for repair, however, the loss-of-use of the instrument together with the shipping expense involved, unnecessarily increases the cost of the clip applier and ultimately each procedure.